kevlar_from_kanada

Welcome. I like the positive energy and all the cool things you seem to want to do. A subset of your list would be a good list for me. Jealous of this "fine weather". It is -10 here in Canada!

Welcome Dragon, I really connected with some of your goals. They are either current goals or ones I have had in the past. I don't play WoW, but I am totally into this game called football manager, which is a complete waste of my time. I figure since you used the term crisps you are British and will know it. Maybe I should just delete it from my computer and Ipad??? I can also get out of whack with my sleep quite easily. Just as a heads up, I quit drinking in my early 20s because it was causing problems for me. If you ever want to chat about that let me know. Cheers

Welcome Esiege, That is a well motivated list of goals. I am a 31 y/o male professional male and some of my goals/ambitions seem to line up with yours. One thing I would say (which maybe Bean is getting at?) is that you may want to tell us some measurable intermediate goals to help you along the way. I remember I promised myself I would join an intramural league even though I didn't know a soul. I did it and my social life improved (maybe kill 2 birds with one stone!). I am jealous that you know your way around a gym. The cool thing about committing to personal growth is that it gets you out of your comfort zone. Best of luck bud.

Hi Bean, I actually went over and read your introduction. Sounds like you have had some challenges but are committed to getting on the right track. I have my own ups and downs too (which is why mental health is one of my motivations!). I tend to be a bit of an all or nothing type of person. Unfortunately these things don't happen overnight. It is sad that your family isn't more supportive, but we don't choose our family. I am sure your husband will appreciate if you have more energy and maybe he will become better at being supportive over time? As a guy, I can say that sometimes we don't know how to be supportive even though we want to be. Maybe you can train him I have actually been doing variations on the bodyweight workout that is provided in the free resources. I started from the Beginner one and am adding some elements of the harder one slowly. This involves doing squats, lunges, dumbell rows, planks, pushups and I add some attempts at the pull up bar to this. I think when I can do the advanced bodyweight workout consistently I will look into going to a gym. I am very tentative about that now as it just gives me anxiety and I don't end up really working out anyway. Thanks for the warm welcome, Kevin

...but not always confidence in me Well that is partially untrue. I am very blessed to have wonderful friends and family. I am getting a PhD. I play in a band (and am shamelessly quoting the Sound of Music in my title). I have a wonderful dog named Dougie to walk me. However, when it comes to nutrition, fitness and how I feel about myself and my body I still have room to grow. I am a 31 year old male who has been overweight (and sometimes even obese) for my whole adult life. I have generally shied away from any physical activity. I am a complete and unapologetic nerd. Maybe not the gamer type (I am too busy reading books about math, history and economics). I also use Linux, which is probably not a necessary, but definitely sufficient condition for nerd-dom. I am a Toronto Maple Leafs fan (very die hard!). I love to talk about music. I love learning new things (but somehow diet and fitness has escaped my interests?). I am currently reading "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. I also got a lot out of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey. That was instrumental in getting me to join here. In the last year I have been making some incremental changes to my life, but I am somewhat stalled. I will start by listing some the changes I have made and their payoffs (I am an economist so I like measurables): Last New Years (start of 2016) I promised myself I would join an intramural league and start a band. I did both those things. I have actually played intramural volleyball, all sorts of sports, floor hockey and archery tag since then. Last week my band played our first headlining gig. Last summer I found out my cholesterol was high. I decided to lose weight. Some early changes I made were cutting out soda, chips, fast food. I have lapsed a bunch, but for the most part seriously scaled this stuff back. I was 246 lbs last July and just weighed myself at 204 lbs yesterday. Since the most recent New Year I have doubled down my efforts at fitness and feeling better overall. I have actually already used a lot of resources from this website, including the home workouts and some of the recipes. However, I got brave and went into my school gym the other day and didn't even know where to begin!!! I was so out of my comfort zone. As well, being around people that work out regularly made me feel very ashamed of my body and completely discount the progress I had made. The sober realization is that I still have some ways to go; so I took the plunge and signed up. I had some initial motivations for committing myself to "looking" better (My sister is getting married and I am the MC. Having my heart broken). However, I did some of the exercises in the mindset section and I thought it may be helpful to share my bigger "why's" for getting in shape: To develop self confidence, a sense of pride and to believe in myself. To manage my mental health. To live as long as possible and to have the stamina to do awesome things that I used to love (like canoe trips, hockey and maybe some new things?) To overcome fears and build resilience. To be an example for my family and friends. To improve my confidence with women. In terms of goals, I will try to measure them in terms of things I can do and wear. I have some old clothes that I used to love that finally fit, though a bit tight. I also want to be able to do a pull up and a chin up and am working towards this. When I do push-ups I use my knees and would like to be able to do 3 sets of regular push-ups. I plan on hanging out on these forums as I learn over the coming months so I look forward to getting to know you. I am in Ontario, Canada so Eastern Standard Time (and we just lost an hour!!). Cheers, Kevin P.S. Sorry this was so long. I guess I am quite excited to be here?